Brochures, posters & leaflets

This document contains Wetlands International’s voluntary commitment to reducing disaster risk for the next 5-10 years. Our commitments are shared by UNISDR with the disaster risk reduction community at large. Voluntary commitments from organisations like Wetlands International and individuals are seen as an essential compliment to legal obligations for protecting lives, livelihoods, assets and the environment and will be one cornerstone of implementation of the post 2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.

The unique approach from the Partners for Resilience (PfR) to the building of community resilience, developed with more than 40 local implementing partner agencies, integrates climate change adaptation and ecosystem management and restoration into disaster risk reduction (DRR). This experience over the past four years of evidence-based, holistic risk reduction can contribute meaningfully to the collective commitment to a post-2015 framework. The PfR key messages and ‘calls to action’ at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) at Sendai, Japan, are presented in this position document.

Through “Building with Nature” we envision a safe delta coastline in Northern Java which enables vulnerable communities and economic sectors to prosper, be more self-reliant and resilient against hazards. Our dream is to replicate this model in rural and urban coastlines in Indonesia and beyond.

The mangroves of Panamá store and sequester enormous amounts of carbon not only in their leaves and branches, but also in their roots and soil. Wetlands International works together with UNDP and national authorities to find out how much exactly and to make sure that these carbon pools and sinks are better managed and protected. For their contribution to climate change mitigation, but also to maintain their broad range of ecosystem services in support of local climate change adaptation.

Palm oil is a vegetable oil that is a common ingredient in a wide variety of products, ranging from biscuits, bread and noodles to shampoo, candles and deter-gents. It has been estimated that around half of all packaged items found in supermarkets contain it. Palm oil is also used as biofuel. The use of palm oil is expected to continue growing, with an esti-mated doubling of use by 2020.

CHALLENGE: Agricultural output is expected to double and resource efficiency increase tenfold in the coming decades. Only a rapid transformation in the way products and services are produced and consumed will ensure the continued delivery of essential ecosystem services provided by a healthy environment while meeting the demands of the world’s growing population. Local communities must have a voice in this transition.

Due to the enormous emphasis on soybean cultivation within Argentina, activities such as cattle raising but also the cultivation of soybeans are increasingly pushed to more marginal and vulnerable areas, where the cost of land is lower.

The Paraná Delta, one of the most unique and important wetlands regions in the world, is one of these places. Although the region is not suitable for these activities, new actors are radically altering the landscape to make the undertaking of these activities possible. Read more about our work on soy and wetlands.

Soy cultivation has shown an increasing expansion throughout Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, in the last decade. This remarkable increase is explained by its economical importance in the region, and as a consequence, it is difficult to regulate its progress and attenuate its potential socio-environmental impacts. Read more about our work on soy and wetlands.

Mudbank is an innovative approach for business to support the conservation of wetlands and migratory waterbirds around the globe. To offset the impact of development projects, Mudbank invests on behalf of companies in the permanent protection of important coastal habitat along migratory flyways. It is designed to be an option in the Mitigation Hierarchy—and not just an “in lieu of” solution.

The new RSPO (April 2013) Principles and Criteria (P&C) require the avoidance of new plantationdevelopments on peatlands and provide important guidance for addressing the issues related tothe production of palm oil on peat. The new P&C acknowledge that drainage of peatlands results in greenhouse gas emissions and peat soil subsidence, which in turn create fl ooding problems. The new requirements constitute a major step forward in the development of sustainable palm oil.

This paper presents the case study of the Rajang Delta in Sarawak, Malaysia where peatland subsidence will cause flooding, rendering 50% and 67% of the land unsuitable for palm oil cultivation after 25 and 50 years respectively. This is 3 to 4 times the size of Singapore.

Companies impact wetlands, but they also have the power to trigger positive change on a scale that Wetlands International can never reach alone. This brochure outlines why wetlands are important for companies and how we partner with copanies to ensure the wise use of wetlands.

While water related hazards such as floods and droughts are on the increase, the degradation of wetlands and other ecosystems erodes nature’s ability to regulate these hazards. In this workshop, we make the case for the need to integrate ecosystems in resilience practice and the importance of landscape level planning to reduce disaster risk.

Building with Nature solutions for creating resilient coasts have rapidly gained momentum. How can this concept contribute to solving key challenges related to coastal security, environmental sustainability and spatial development? There is a need for convincing business cases that quantify costs and benefits of this new way of working and compare these with conventional civil engineering approaches.

As part of the Partners for Resilience country programme, the Guatemalan Red Cross and Wetlands International prepared a study on wetland-related best practices and livelihoods of the Maya Q’eqchi’ people of El Estor, Guatemala. The study systematizes their traditional and local knowledge. This knowledge allows their communities to take actions for climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and ecosystem restoration and management, taking these wetland-related livelihoods as starting point.

As part of the Partners for Resilience programme, Guatemalan Red Cross and Wetlands International conducted a study to map the forest cover and ecosystems of the Cucubá river microbasin in Santa Cruz del Quiché. The study also describes the ecosystem services that are crucial for local livelihoods, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

Agriculture is the main economic activity and source of livelihoods of ten communities located in the municipalities of Nahualá and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán in the Mazá river basin of Guatemala. The agriculture and forestry systems as developed by these small-scale farmers help to meet the basic needs of their families. They use farming practices based on traditional knowledge and experiences passed on for generations, which allows these agriculture and forestry systems to cope with changes in climate and, therefore, build their resilience.

Through “Building with Nature” we envision a safe delta coastline in Northern Java which enables vulnerable communities and economic sectors to prosper, be more self-reliant and resilient against hazards. This leaflet summarizes our approach and ambitions in Java. Our dream is to replicate this model in rural and urban coastlines in Indonesia and beyond.

This factsheet explains the causes and consequences of the rapid and severe subsidence of peat soils in South-east Asia as a result of the drainage of peatlands for agriculture and forestry. We provide recommendations on what can be done to mitigate further subsidence and resulting flooding in the tropics and instead create sustainable peat landscapes.

What do you need to pay attention to when you want to set up sustainable projects in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)? The financial, institutional, environmental, techno logical and social (FIETS) aspects of sustainability. The Dutch WASH Alliance believes that all of these aspects require attention; not separately, but as a whole. This fact sheet explains the relationship between environmental sustainability and each of the other FIETS elements.

How can you support people in living healthy lives? One way is to ensure that they have access to enough clean water. Another is to support them in building proper sanitary facilities. Or to increase awareness of good hygiene practices. The Dutch WASH Alliance aims to realise and embed these conditions around the world. To ensure that it is done in the most sustainable manner possible, the Dutch WASH Alliance follows a unique strategy called ‘FIETS’. This factsheet explains part of the strategy: the focus on environmental sustainability.

The subject of this publication is the authors' experiences with developing the concepts of visitor centres and eco-trails in protected nature areas of different types. It is targeted at a wide audience, including those that have the intention of establishing a visitor centre or a wetland centre, plan to renovate an old natural history museum, design a network of walking trails, a child-friendly exhibit or a play area. This publication contains the detailed description of the steps they will go through to plan the concept development process, the practical examples and tips to avoid common mistakes. The recommendations are illustrated by the authors’ photographs and drawings.PDF

Migratory waterbirds depend on a range of secure sites during their annual migrations. This flyer outlines our programme to link site managers within the African-Eurasian flyway in order to develop more committed and connected human networks for the conservation of migratory species.

One of the important goals of the Dutch WASH Alliance is providing clean water and keeping it clean in order to prevent diseases. What is the most effective way to achieve that goal in an ecologically sustainable manner? This factsheet contains a number of suggestions and practical examples. Projects can focus on preventing sewage from coming into contact with drinking water, but they can also focus on reusing nutrients from that same sewage.

Millions of hectares of drained and abandoned peatlands in European Russia are highly vulnerable to fires, such as those that covered Moscow in smoke during the extremely dry summer of 2010. Rewetting degraded peatlands, especially abandoned peat mining sites, and establishing a sustainable usage will prevent fires and their negative impacts on climate and biodiversity.

How can you store large amounts of clean water that would otherwise be lost via runoff ? And how can you access that water when it is needed? The answers to these questions diff er for each area or watershed. The Dutch WASH Alliance therefore works to find the most sustainable, suitable and context-specific solutions. The goal is to provide people with enough clean water, in a way that benefits both them and their natural environment. The ‘3R’ approach plays a vital role in realising this goal.

At the halfway point in implementation of the Partners for Resilience programme (PfR), a wealth of initial successes and lessons learnt have been identified. Based on the PfR resilience vision of eight key principles, the partners have now gathered case studies that illustrate how this is currently being translated into practice.

The integration of ecosystems and natural resource management in disaster risk reduction (DRR) has been largely overlooked to date. This document introduces a set of criteria, which can be used by policy makers and practitioners to better integrate the management of ecosystems and natural resources in their DRR work.

Millions of people around the world are vulnerable to natural and man-made hazards. Unsustainable management and use of ecosystems is often a root cause of such vulnerability. Wetlands International calls for better integration of approaches to disaster risk reduction, bringing together expertise from relevant sectors and making optimal use of the natural protection provided by ecosystems.

This leaflet explains the concept of hybrid engineering as it relates to mangrove coasts. It provides a rationale for moving away from over-reliance on hard engineered structures, and moving towards working alongside and with nature for coastal resilience. The information contained in this leaflet can be used by policy makers and practitioners when considering options for coastal defence in tropical coastal regions.

This book contains basic information on the 35 wetland sites designated by the Government of the Russian Federation for the List of Wetlands of International Importance under the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971).

Wetlands International is working closely with Red Cross, Cordaid, Red Cross Climate Centre and CARE to implement a range of activities in Asia, Latin America and Africa to increase people's resilience against (climate related) disasters via ecosystem restoration and management. Together we have formed the “Partners for Resilience” (PfR).

Peatlands support millions of people around the world, store twice as much carbon as all forests worldwide, and are home to many threatened species of plants and animals. Peatland degradation has devastating economic and social consequences. Wetlands International promotes global and national land use practices and policies that counter peatland destruction and degradation, promote conservation incentives and support local communities.

This decision support tree was developed for the 2012 report, Peatlands – guidance for climate change mitigation by conservation, rehabilitation and sustainable use. The report, available on line, outlines the steps in the decision-making process. Download the decision-support tree

Migratory waterbirds are culturally and economically important, but vulnerable to habitat loss, overexploitation and other pressures. Countries along their flyways have a shared responsibility for sustainable management of their populations. Through the African-Eurasian Waterbird Monitoring Partnership, Wetlands International and partners support science-based decision-making to help countries meet their AEWA commitments to waterbird conservation.

Wetlands International champions and enables the adequate management, restoration and sustainable use of mangrove forests. In this brochure we highlight our approaches and activities to increase coastal resilience and reduce disaster risk.

Peatlands play a critical role in climate regulation, storing twice as much carbon as the entire world’s forest biomass and emitting large amounts of carbon when drained. The UNFCCC provides significant opportunities to safeguard and restore these concentrated and important reservoirs of terrestrial carbon.

This paper introduces Mangrove Capital; a programme conceived by Wetlands International and partner organisations, that aims to bring the values of mangroves to the fore and provide the knowledge and tools necessary for the improved management of mangrove forests.

During the coming 5 years, Wetlands International will work closely with Red Cross, Cordaid, Red Cross Climate Centre and CARE to implement a range of projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa to increase people's resilience against (climate related) disasters via ecosystem restoration and management. Together they have formed the “Partners for Resilience” (PfR).

Paper made by the NGOs working together in the EU on the European biofuels policy. The Paper describes how the European biofuels policy will cause indirect land use change of a magnitude of 69 000 km2 of forests, wetlands and other ecosystems; an area twice the size of Belgium.

This paper shines light on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions due to conversion of areas with peatsoils for palm oil production, including for biodiesel. The paper will focus on palm oil in Southeast Asia; the most relevant area for vegetable oil production on peatlands, with alarming greenhouse gas emissions as a result.

Sierra Leone’s coastal and marine biodiversity faces many threats ranging from habitat destruction, climate change (coastal erosion, flooding and droughts), hunting, collection of sea turtle eggs, to land use change as a result of agriculture and settlement and fish stock overexploitation. However, there are initiatives already addressing some of these issues for some time.

The title of this poster is "Peatland loss fuels climate change". It is a cartoon showing the conversion of peatlands into palm oil plantation, which causes the relases of CO2 through burning practices as well as oxidation of the peat soil from the deforestation and drainage. The palm oil company employee has his pockets filled with dollars, stating "We plant oil palm to save the climate, and get REDD and biofuels subsidies".

"Prevent mal-adaptation: protect and restore wetlands to adapt to climate change" is the title of this double-sided cartoon poster explaining how wetlands serve to mitigate impacts and thereby help to adapt to climate change.

The poster is in size A0, in landscape showing two windows: a well-adjusted wetland with happy well-fed people and liveliy biodiversity. On the other side a big dam is built, where animals and people suffer.

This 6-page brochure demonstrates how wetlands in a healthy, intact condition can greatly contribute to attenuate the water related impacts of climate change. Due to their ability to store and slowly release water, these wetlands are a vital lifeline in periods of extreme droughtsWetlands International urges governments, development organisations and finance institutions to integrate wetlands into climate change adaptation strategies. .